stumbling through south korea: Cucumber is the code word....

Paint Ball TEAM!

I wrote this blog a while ago...but I had to get the pictures from someone else before I could post it. Now I'm posting it! The events of the weekend of April 8-10 begin now.

DongYup and his Baskin Robbins Birthday Cake

It all started with Friday night. Friday was our friend DongYup’s birthday, so we all went out for dinner together and the bbq place we always end up eating at. We bought a Baskin’ Robbins cake of course, and almost devoured the entire thing! After dinner we hung around a bit, then headed home. Sam wasn’t feeling to good, and everyone was getting tired. So instead of pushing ourselves to the limits, we decided going home and getting ready for the next day was a better idea.

Sam and Marty acting tough.

And boy were we right! Saturday morning came around and it was sooo worth not being tired! We were going paintball-ing! Yes! For many of us, it was our first time! We were sooo excited! The paintball group met up around noon, then we headed off to the spot! In total there were about 15 people going. Luckily for us, about 7 of them were our friends! Our plans – get on a team together and DOMINATE! We suited up, learned the rules, and then chose teams. Luckily, Sam was one of the team captains! And she picked us all! Or plan was ½ complete. Next step – total domination!

Getting dressed for the big game

We headed off into the woods to prepare our game plan. Our plan: finds a partner, kill everyone, DOMINATE! We divided into pairs and headed off. I skulked around the woods for a while, the shot some people for a while. I think I got one person before I was killed. I got back to the shelter to greet the rest of my teammates.. I think the whole game lasted 10 minutes. Result – we totally did not dominate.

Learning the rules

After the paintball experts conferred for a few minutes, it was decided to split the teams once more. This time though, Sam and I were on different teams. Luckily, on my team I got an expert paintball player (the guy who set the whole game up) and a retired army sniper (Donghoon). The cards were stacked in my favor! Sorry Sam!

The game – capture the flag. We ran around a bit. I got shot twice I think? But in this game, if you get shot early on, you get your helmet wiped off and get to go back in. I was able to shoot Dan out of the game for a moment, then Sam decided to get me. Drat. Shot by Sam. That’s messed up.

Anyway, we kept playing. I decided to be a bit more careful and after my second death and resurrection, I decided to play “protect the flag”. I did great. Then I decided to play “hero”. Yes, this means that I actually captured the flag. In a capture the flag game! Muah hah ha!

We played one more time, and of course, our team won this time too! Luckily Sam didn’t shoot me dead this time!

The last game we played was a fight to the death. Everyone was supposed to be against everyone else. Of course, who plays like that when you have friends around? When you have more friends than your enemies do….you’re bound to win! So that’s what we did. Marty, Sam, Mingyeong, and I decided to go into the woods and wait for everyone to kill each other. We started seeing people closing in on us, so I moved a little farther to snipe them out. I guess around this time someone started shooting at Mingyeong. Did Sam and Marty protect the other member of our alliance? No. They ran toward where I was hiding. Cowards.

Anyway, we became a 3 man hunting team – looking our for other enemies in our path. When someone saw one of us, they would come near, but when they realized that we were a 3-person-fighting-force-of-doom they ran away scared. We were getting good! After a while, we would scoop out an enemy and close in, using the trees for cover! They were scared! We started picking them off one by one. So proud of ourselves, we went for our next kill, thinking, “Oh this will be easy.” We scared the guy up a hill behind a tree. I came from behind, Sam and Marty were down below. I start shooting. My aim is awful so of course I miss. All of a sudden I’m struck in the face with a paintball – I’m out. Drat.

I walk down the hill. Sam and Marty are also on their way out!! What happened? It seems as if we were all three bested by one man. That will teach us! Never underestimate your opponent when you’re almost out of bullets and you can’t aim a gun.

After the game, we all rode around on a 4 wheeler, played a little soccer, took off our toughguy outfits, and headed home. There, we all took showers in our respective showers, then headed out to dinner. Because we were all tired, we spent the evening in my neighborhood. We found a yummy restaurant to eat at, bought some ice cream from the grocery store (because the one thing Yeounil is lacking is a BaskinRobbins), and headed to my house to relax and eat!

The next day I woke up late and decided it was a perfect idea to go see some cherry blossom flowers. The best place around to go was Gyeongju, so I called up Pips and Jax and we caught the next bus over. At first we wanted to go to Bomun Resort, so we got in a taxi and headed in that direction, but there was a lot of traffic and it was very far away. We decided the best idea was to jump ship. Unfortunately for us, the cab driver didn’t want us to go. Unfortunately for him, we weren’t going to sit there any longer! So, we gave him some money and dived out.

Luckily for us, we dived out in a good location! There were tons of historical sights all around us, as well as beautiful flowers! And after viewing all these beautiful things, we were within walking distance of the bus terminal!